ALUMINIUM PRODUCTION IN THE WORLD

& electricity use

BASIC INFORMATION FROM THE INTERNET
30. April 2015.

Zoran Otri
blog (in Croatian): http://ekoloskaekonomija.wordpress.com/

http://www.alueurope.eu/about-aluminium/production-process/
Sastav zemljine kore:

With a share of 8 %, aluminium is the third most abundant element in the earths crust. Thus,
the availability of raw material supplies for the production of aluminium is almost unlimited.
The common raw material for aluminium production, bauxite is composed primarily of one or
more aluminium hydroxide compounds, plus silica, iron and titanium oxides as the main
impurities. It is used to produce aluminium oxide through the Bayer chemical process and
subsequently aluminium through the Hall-Heroult electrolytic process.
On a world-wide average 4 to 5 tonnes of bauxite are needed to produce two tonnes of
alumina, from which one tonne of aluminium can be produced. In Europe, usually the average
bauxite consumption is 4.2 tonnes per tonne of aluminium.
More than 160 million tonnes of bauxite are mined each year. The major locations of
deposites are found in tropic and sub-tropic areas. Bauxite is currently being extracted in
Australia, Central and South America (Jamaica, Brazil, Surinam, Venezuela, Guyana), Africa
(Guinea), Asia (India, China), Russia (and Kazakhstan) and Europe (Greece).

The material is mainly extracted by open-cast mining, which has a variable

and highly site-specific effect on the local environment. The primary ecological concerns
connected to this operation are related to the clearing of vegetation, affect on local flora and
fauna, and soil erosion. Also, the conservation of rain forests is a key concern often voiced
with regard to bauxite mining. Only about 15% of the worlds bauxite mining is today
conducted in tropical rain forests. The area affected by bauxite mining is about 160m/kt.
The original flora and fauna of much of the land involved in bauxite mining is restored once
mining operations have ceased. For all forest areas used for bauxite mining, 80% is returned
to native forests, the rest is replaced by agriculture, commercial forest, or recreational area,
thereby making the area more productive for the local community. As far as rain forests in
particular are concerned, however, the area used for bauxite mining in rain forests is almost
totally reverted back to rain forest. 97% of operations have rehabilitation plans in place. (...)

Alumina production
Bauxite has to be processed into pure aluminium oxide (alumina) before it can be converted
to aluminium by electrolysis. This is achieved through the use of the Bayer chemical process
in alumina refineries. The aluminium oxide is released from the other substances in bauxite in
a caustic soda solution, which is filtered to remove all insoluble particles. The residue of the
Bayer process, called bauxite residue, is managed separately according to industry
standards (read the Bauxite Residue Management guidelines, August 2014 update).

The aluminium hydroxide is then precipitated from the soda solution, washed and dried while
the soda solution is recycled. After calcination, the end-product, aluminium oxide (Al2O3), is a
fine grained white powder. Four tonnes of bauxite are required to produce two tonnes of
alumina which in turn produces one tonne of aluminium at the primary smelter. In 2010,
87.4mil tonnes of alumina were produced world-wide.
Alumina refineries are often located near to bauxite mines for logistics reasons.

Electrolysis
Aluminium primary smelting and casting
Primary aluminium is produced in reduction plants (or smelters), where pure aluminium is
extracted from alumina by the Hall-Hroult process. The reduction of alumina into liquid
aluminium is operated at around 950 degrees Celsius in a cryolite bath under high intensity
electrical current. This process takes place in electrolytic cells (or pots), where carbon
cathodes form the bottom of the pot and act as the negative electrode. Anodes (positive
electrodes) are held at the top of the pot and are consumed during the process when they
react with the oxygen coming from the alumina. There are two types of anodes currently in
use. All potlines built since the early 1970s use the prebake anode technology, where the
anodes, manufactured from a mixture of petroleum coke and coal tar pitch (acting as a
binder), are pre-baked in separate anode plants. In the Soederberg technology, the
carbonaceous mixture is fed directly into the top part of the pot, where self-baking anodes are
produced using the heat released by the electrolytic process.
At regular intervals, molten aluminium tapped from the pots is transported to the cast house
where it is alloyed in holding furnaces by the addition of other metals (according to the users
needs), cleaned of oxides and gases, and then cast into ingots. These can take the form of
extrusion billets, for extruded products, or rolling ingots, for rolled products, depending on the
way it is to be further processed. Aluminium mould castings are produced by foundries which
use this technique to manufacture shaped components.
World-wide trends in production are shown in the following graph. Aluminium output has
increased by a factor of 13 since 1950, making aluminium the most widely used non-ferrous
metal. In 2010, the world-wide production of primary aluminium was about 42.6 million tonnes
per year for and installed capacity of 53.6 million tonnes.
Very recently China developped its aluminium production very rapidly, and it is the biggest
producer in the world with over 17 million tonnes of production.
The other main production areas are North America, Europe (4.2 Mt), former Cis, Africa,
Australia, Brazil, India, and the Middle East. In Europe the main producing countries are
Germany, France, Spain, Norway and Iceland. World-wide, production plants are mainly
located where suitable electrical energy resources are available.

=========================================
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_aluminium_production
This is a list of countries by aluminium production in 2012 (and
2013) based on USGS [ United States Geological Survey] figures.
Rank Country/Region
(thousands of tonnes)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24=
24=
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36

Aluminium production

World
47,300[3]
China People's Republic of China
21,500[3]
Russia Russia
3,950[3]
Canada Canada
2,900[3]
United States United States
1,950[3]
United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates
1,800[3]
Australia Australia 1,750[3]
India India 1,700[3]
Brazil Brazil 1,330[3]
Norway Norway
1,200[3]
Bahrain Bahrain
900[3]
Iceland Iceland
825[3]
South Africa South Africa 820[3]
Qatar Qatar 600[3]
Mozambique Mozambique
560[3]
Argentina Argentina
460[3]
Germany Germany 400[3]
Oman Oman
360
France France
349
New Zealand New Zealand
327
Iran Iran
320
Tajikistan Tajikistan
273
Egypt Egypt 265
Indonesia Indonesia
250
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan 249
Romania Romania 249
Spain Spain 230
Venezuela Venezuela
200[3]
Slovakia Slovakia 161
Netherlands Netherlands 150
Greece Greece
135
Sweden Sweden 129
Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina
126
Malaysia Malaysia 120
Italy Italy
110
Ghana Ghana
100
Montenegro Montenegro 80

37=
37=
39
40
41
42
43
44

Turkey Turkey
60
United Kingdom United Kingdom 60
Azerbaijan Azerbaijan
54
Cameroon Cameroon
52
Japan Japan
50
Slovenia Slovenia 40
Nigeria Nigeria
26
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia
5

==========================================
http://wordpress.mrreid.org/2011/07/15/electricity-consumption-inthe-production-of-aluminium/
Aluminium is a very useful metal; it is the most widely used non-ferrous* metal in the world. It
has a very low electrical resistance and a very good strength-to-weight ratio and has therefore
found many applications: from packaging in drinks cans and foil wrapping to aeroplane parts
and power lines.
Luckily, aluminium is very common, making up about 8% by mass of the Earths crust (only
silicon and oxygen are more abundant). Unfortunately aluminium is also very reactive so is
never found in isolation like gold and silver are, but rather as a compound in one of 270
different minerals.
Aluminium is usually produced by extracted from bauxite, an ore made from a mixture of
aluminium hydroxide, iron oxide, titanium dioxide and kaolinite. Because it is so reactive
aluminium cannot be extracted economically using chemical processes; instead it is extracted
by electrolysis in the Hall-Hroult process.
The Hall-Hroult process uses a huge amount of electricity; hundreds of thousands of
amperes are used in each cell and a single plant may contain hundreds of cells connected in
series. According to Alcoa, the worlds largest producer of aluminium, the best smelters use
about 13 kilowatt hours (46.8 megajoules) of electrical energy to produce one kilogram of
aluminium; the worldwide average is closer to 15 kWh/kg (54 MJ/kg).
Worldwide production of aluminium in 2010 was 41.4 million tonnes. Using the figures above
this means that 621 billion kilowatt hours of electrical energy were used in the production of
aluminium. To put that in perspective, the total world production of electrical energy was
20261 billion kilowatt hours, meaning that more than 3% of the worlds entire electrical supply
went to extraction of aluminium.

=======================================
http://mcgroup.co.uk/news/20120510/china-unable-satisfydomestic-aluminium-consumption-high-output.html
China is Unable to Satisfy Domestic Aluminium Consumption
despite High Output
May 10, 2012

China owns the largest stake in the world aluminium production. The country generated 18
million tonnes in 2011, a rise by 1.8 million tonnes, or 11.1 percent, year on year.
The Chinese market for aluminium is not well-balanced as the demand surpasses availability
there.
For instance, local buyers consumed 20.6 million tonnes in 2011. The figure was
approximately 1.9 million tonnes, or 10.4 percent, higher than in 2010.
Chinese traders are forced to export certain volumes of the product annually in order to meet
their clients demand.
Unwrought aluminium import volumes were slightly above 365,000 tonnes in 2010 in the
country. However, the amount was well below the one a year earlier when it reached 1.74
million tonnes.
Aluminum waste and scrap imports amounted to 2.9 million tonnes in 2010, up by 300,000
tonnes, or 11.5 percent, year on year.
China-based aluminium companies also export the material. Their total unwrought aluminium
exports were estimated at around 754,000 tonnes in 2010. The export volumes were almost
two times lower in 2009.
Countrys aluminum waste and scrap exports were about 1.1 million tonnes in 2010, in
comparison with 890,000 tonnes in the preceding year.